The long, long wait is over. Doctor Who celebrated 50 years of thrilling us all with the adventures of a madman with a box in high style, with not only “The Day of the Doctor”, but also the stunning “An Adventure in Space and Time” and Peter Davison’s “The Five(ish) Doctors”, a whimsical treat for lovers of both the classic and new series.

Let’s not forget that 94 countries and many movie theatres simulcast “The Day of the Doctor” on Saturday, and for the first time ever the Three Who Rule are able to relay what it felt like to watch a big-screen adventure with the Doctor(s) surrounded by the love of many, many fans cheering and whooping at every twist and turn.

It was indeed a monumental week, but there’s still the Christmas Special and the end of Matt Smith’s run in a month, and next week a special RFS from Chicago TARDIS! Allons-Y, Geronimo, and for God’s Sake, GALLIFREY STANDS!

10 Responses so far.

First, I’m going to listen to that intro music many many more times. It had me tearing up. The whole episode nicely summed up of the fan reaction to this glorious week. Highlights were Steven’s crazy and wonderful theory on the Curator, Warren’s defending short people’s right to get married, and the gushing over An Adventure in Space and Time. After listening to the episode, I’m ready to go watch everything again. Just to be a pendant: It is the human Osgood that offers the inhaler to the Zygon. Osgood grabs it as she runs out of the room after tripping the Zygon on the scarf. Looking forward to the RFS commentaries for both AAiSaT and DotD.

It’s an actual proper good story! With two main plot lines that complement each other and tie together at the end and both are interesting and fun in their own right! I love how it deals with choices and their consequences. The Zygons are fantastic, Elizabeth is brilliant, the interplay between the Doctors and the War Doctor are all brilliant. It’s a multi-Doctor celebration that pulls off being about something more than just a celebration, that sets up the future as much as it pulls from the past and which doesn’t get overcrowded with incidental characters included just for fans.

I have nitpicks though. I always do.

Some are perhaps controversial like how I consider the appearance of Tom Baker at the end one giant helping of pandering too far. From what I gather Baker played a future regeneration of the Doctor who is cycling through favourite old faces on in his extreme old age as he enjoys his retirement curating a gallery. Yes. OK. I’ll accept it. But seriously. Maybe it makes me a bad fan but where other references to the history of the show slots in nicely and seamlessly like UNIT or the Zygons or Elizabeth or the War Doctor’s biting comments on behalf of classic era fans inserting Tom Baker as Tom Baker age 80 playing a Doctor maybe at the end sticks out like a sore thumb. Instead of a “look what they could work in a reference to” moment for those who’d recognise it it’s a “look they could get Tom Baker for something never mind what” moment.

Perhaps more damning though is I think I have to ask: where were all the Time Ladies at? Really. I think there’s two in the background in the war room scene at the beginning and one even has one whole line! Anyone running around Gallifrey without accompanying Time Baby? 50 % of the population on the real Earth, 10 % of the population of Gallifrey? What? Come on. You’d think this wouldn’t still be a thing 50 years on.

Speaking of the war room, everything we get to build up how bad the Time Lords are and why they might actually deserve to be wiped out along with the Daleks to begin with is a mention that aside from the “Moment” they’ve already used a whole arsenal of unnamed weapons of mass destruction. That’s a bit of a problem isn’t it? It suggests that the Doctor isn’t contemplating destroying both sides because it’s a conflict in which either side winning would equate to a loss for the universe as a whole but rather that the Time Lords were just losing and all the children were collateral damage.
They really could have fixed it with a line in the war room. Maintained that depth to the Doctor’s choice. While fighting and monitoring the war one of the Time Lords or Ladies could have mentioned how the Daleks are establishing a beachhead on the neutral planet Karn or wherever and another Lord or Lady could have easily made the decision to wipe it out. Done. It establishes the scale of the war, the power of the Time Lords and how callous they too have become. I don’t know, maybe that would have made it worse or broken the pacing too much. Not doing so however does change the nature of the time war from what we’ve seen in earlier stories and even in the mini episode preceding the special. Maybe it’s fine to rely on the audience’s knowledge of previous stories but I think one line or one exchange could have made the special stand on its own.

Lastly, and almost not worth mentioning, are all the Daleks in the universe who were involved in the time war at Gallifrey when it winks out? I mean, that’s the only way the gambit could work isn’t it? Seems like an odd strategy on behalf of the Daleks.

They did manage to make Tennant’s already established last lines actually poignant rather than pathetic though, so that is probably enough to make me forgive just about any flaws.

A 50th anniversary special of an ongoing show is a tough thing to get right and I think Moffat largely delivered and I doubt anyone else could have managed to get even close. Most of the nods to the past work without at all slowing down the story at hand. They managed to include all the Doctors, all past and at least one future. It isn’t just a spectacle but has actual story and philosophical depth (and it’s legal philosophy to boot which makes it even better). The War Doctor’s console room! UNIT!! The effects, the direction, etc. all great.

Of course my opinion may change when I see it again without all the pent up anticipation.

About the Tom Baker bit. One theory that I think has some legs is that it is in some way connected to The Watcher. When you think about it, the regeneration from 4 to 5 is rather unusual compared to what has gone before or since. What if The Watcher allowed Tom’s incarnation to become The Curator, giving the Doctor with the longest TV tenure a bit of retirement?

Considering the insecurities that people associated with Doctor Who’s history used to have about direct comparisons with genre motion pictures,i was immensely proud and excited to enjoy The Day Of The Doctor on a cinema screen.It was also a massive pleasure that it was simulcast worldwide at the same time.It seems very strange that David Tennant and Matt Smith have both appeared with Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen now.Kudos to Moffat for also featuring the space time telegraph the Brigadier used to contact the fourth doctor in the original story along with the Zygons return.I’m sure Verity Lambert would have been especially pleased and grateful about John Hurts contribution to honouring Doctor Who’s anniversary.Just want to express my appreciation and gratitude to everybody involved in the production,particularly Steven Moffat and Nick Hurran.

Just a thought on the numbering of regenerations. I am thinking of Hartnell as the Original rather then the first doctor. The “second” doctor is actually the First regeneration. That lets us keep our current numbering – Tennant remains the 10th regeneration, Smith the 11th, etc.